


Two Magicians Shall Appear in America

by orphan_account



Category: 16th & 17th Century CE RPF, Hamilton - Miranda, Historical RPF, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Genre: Alternate Universe - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell, Alternate Universe - Magic, F/M, I'll add tags as I go along, M/M, Magic, attempt at canon era writing, heavy references, i go on about books, like that's the general premise, loads of shit before that though, magician!alex, magician!burr, tagged relationships are anticipations, there are no wands, there will still be a duel, this is jsmn not harry potter, transmutation of furniture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 02:03:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6066490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Above all remember this: that magic belongs as much to the heart as to the head and everything which is done, should be done from love or joy or righteous anger.</i><br/>— The Lady Catherine of Winchester</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Magicians Shall Appear in America

**Author's Note:**

> It's a self indulgent au, where evergthing is the same, except for the inclusion of Susanna Clarke style magic. Burr and Hamilton will take on respectively the roles of Norrell and Strange.
> 
> (Please love yourself and read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.)
> 
> Please go and pay attention to this wonderful fic  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/6014881
> 
> by ossapher http://archiveofourown.org/users/ossapher/pseuds/ossapher
> 
> which was what sparked off the idea.

When James Hamilton embarks for St Kitts for good, he leaves behind two things.

There is, left in his wake, the unspoken, insidious and ever present unease that Mr Hamilton made his exit due to some inadequacy in his wife, children and their home (which Rachel referred to as modest, and he at best as shabby).

The second leaving is far easier to define. It takes the form of approximately thirty volumes which had been taken from his estranged family's library in Scotland — not because Mr Hamilton had any particular interest in the subjects contained therein (indeed he did not possess the slightest inclination towards the musty charms of academia!) but rather due to the command given by his father, the Laird Hamilton, expressly forbidding his disgraced fourth son from removing any property from the premises.

The Hamilton children, James and Alexander, being excluded from the local school as a result of their illegitimacy, relied almost entirely on these books to gain an education — a thing done by Alexander, the second son, with great success.

These tomes traversed an array of subjects — poetry, the history of the crusades and of the Greeks, theology (there was, of course, a Bible), philosophy, botany — there was even a _novel_. But, crucially, there were an extraordinary number of books of magic. By this it is meant that there were three. 

One of the collection was _The Tree of Learning_ , by late-Argentine magician Gregory Absalom. Although (as is known) Absalom was an entirely fraudulent magician and so no applicable enchantments or spells were to be found in this particular volume, the passage in which Aurate magician Martin Pale holds a conversation — or rather an argument — with the fairy Cold Henry on the subject of the size of Englishmen's feet, was a particular favourite bedtime story of the Hamilton children.

The fact that none of Absalom's spells had ever been successfully cast (and most assuredly not by Absalom himself, if one were to take the King of Denmark at his word) adds the context which makes the events the author will relate appropriately astonishing.

Rachel Faucette (the mother — sadly it is from her unmarried state that her problems stem) returned from the keeping of the family store one afternoon to be met with quite a sight; her son Alexander attached by the feet, by means of what appeared to be creepers, to what could only barely be recognised as the floral screen kept in front of the fireplace. The boy had felt compelled to attempt the spell of enlivenment that is to be found in the aforementioned book, but due to an over-enthusiastic voicing of the necessary incantation he had ensnared himself.

Rachel gave the result of her son's misadventures an appraising glance, noting that, yes! there were the ferns and flowers that had been woven into the tapestry of the screen, now growing out of her floorboards — quite alive!

"Alexander! How could you?" she demanded. She took up _The Tree of Learning_ itself, using it to deliver an admonishing whack to the back of the child's head. She had been very fond of that screen.

However, Ms Faucette was a great deal more fond of her Alexander than she could ever be of any item of furniture, and so the blow was immediately followed with a kiss as she promptly set off to locate a pair of shears with which to cut him free.

There was also a transcription of _The Book of the Lady Catherine of Winchester_ , which was of far more use in the practical sense, as well as in the understanding of the nature of magic. Young Alexander was intensely fascinated by her writings on magic as a force that controls the wielder, in the same way that the wielder controls the force.

It must be said that his elder brother James was never particularly fascinated by anything, except perhaps joinery.

The third, and perhaps most traditional book of magic was Paris Ormkirk's _Revelations of Thirty-Six Other Worlds_ , which is a book of some magical history, but composed mainly of works of magic primarily — but not entirely — to do with the lands of færie and the manipulation of weather.

Despite the fact that these books were few in number, they were exceedingly rare — not to mention of immense value — and it was all together a terrible shame that Rachel Faucette never discovered that the profit from the sale of these books would have been sufficient to live comfortably in a house somewhat less "modest" than their own place of residence.

That is; it would have been considered a shame, had it not been for a situation that arose — in which Alexander Hamilton's access to books of magic was of inestimable benefit to a great number of people.

**Author's Note:**

> Please yell at me in the comments you know how I need validation.
> 
>  
> 
> If you spot any mistakes please tell me!


End file.
